Sermon Snippet – Preparing for an Uncertain Future – Part IV
INTRODUCTION – We return to the subject of preparing for an uncertain future. We have considered the economic and the emotional in specific messages; we have considered the eternal in all three previous sermons. Today, let us think about the ecclesiastical – that is, matters pertaining to the Church. Particularly, what happens when others will not permit God’s people to be a blessing?
1. WE HAVE THE EXAMPLE OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH
Part of God’s promise to Abraham is that he would be a blessing to all people: “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3), speaking specifically of the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. If people rejected this blessing, though, there would be negative results: “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.” Certainly Abraham was good to Sodom and Gomorrah, for in Genesis 14 he rescued the people who had been taken into captivity by a rival king and also recovered their stolen goods (verse 16). Later, in Genesis 18-19, Abraham interceded for these cities, even though their wickedness was and is proverbial. Genesis 19:5 is especially sordid, for rape (whether heterosexual or homosexual) is an abomination. In this passage, Abraham was not bargaining with God, for God is not changeable. Rather, the patriarch assumed that there must be at least ten righteous men there (18:32). There were not, and righteous obliteration ensued. The kindnesses of a godly man had been spurned, and the evil cities were utterly destroyed.
2. WE ALSO HAVE THE EXAMPLE OF EDOM
From Abraham through Isaac, Jacob (later named Israel by God) became the conduit of God’s promise of blessing. He was an imperfect man (as all of us are). His twin brother, Esau, though, was a profane man, disdaining his birthright (with its spiritual implications of godly leadership) for a bowl of soup (Genesis 25:29-34)! He also married pagan women, rejecting his father’s wishes (Genesis 26:34-35). He left the Promised Land, established his own nation (Edom – Genesis 36:8), and seemingly flourished (Genesis 36:7). However, the end of the story is found in the petite passages of the book of Obadiah. Because of their poor treatment of the people of Israel, the Edomites would vanish as a nation (verse 10). By the time of Jesus, Edom was no more. Some of its former territory is now part of the modern nation of Israel.
3. WE HAVE THE FURTHER EXAMPLE OF EGYPT
We studied three weeks ago how God saved Egypt (and the fledgling nation of Israel) through Joseph, one of Jacob’s sons. Joseph’s spiritual insight and wise counsel saved Egypt from devastating famine. Also, his whole family became a blessing (note Genesis 47:7). However, Exodus 1:8 records a dramatic change, as the Israelites became slaves. Some might question God’s goodness to Israel, but He was protecting them from the deadly spiritual (really, unspiritual) contamination of the Canaanites until the Jewish people were numerous enough to control the Promised Land. In Egypt, they were shielded from idolatry because the Egyptians despised shepherds (Genesis 46:33-34) and would not even sit at the same table as Hebrews (Genesis 43:32). God was not the problem; the Egyptians were, and God judged them with plagues and with the demolition of their military at the Red Sea. A cynic might suggest that Egypt has done just fine, since it is till a nation. However, Revelation 11:8, prophesying about the judgment to come in the Apocalypse, links “Sodom and Egypt.” That is not good company to be in. As Pastor R. G. Lee famously preached, “Payday, someday.”
CONCLUSION – Galatians 3:8-9 makes it clear that the promise to Abraham is applicable to all men: we need Jesus as Savior. The fullness of God’s blessing – His everlasting blessing – rests upon each one who trusts in Jesus for salvation. Please be sure of this salvation today. What are we then to do as Christians when people reject this blessing? Matthew 5:43-45 is plain: we are to continue to seek to be a blessing, just as our Lord does. Judgment belongs to Him, not to us, and His judgment is justice.